Little bit of photos, lots of decluttering

I just finished uploading and sharing the best of our family trip in June. There is a little more cleanup I can do for this year, but I'm basically done until the end of July, when I'll have to handle July's pictures.

I spent hours and hours in the basement today, moving stuff around and sorting it out. I just need to figure out what to do with all of the stuff we don't need anymore. Garage sale is a ton of work, Once Upon a Child might be a good solution, but donation is the easiest. I have a really hard time letting go of things, so I was going to try selling it this time to see if a monetary reward would help me get rid of things. I will probably try Once Upon a Child first, then donate the rest.

Catchup

OK, I've missed a couple days but not as many as it appears from the non-blogging. I've been working on this around 10-11 at night every night, and I block my internet at that time, so it doesn't chime very easily with blogging about it. Here's another chunk.

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Andrew needs to explain a difficult problem to a student who is not yet ready for the material.
JACOB: Let's go through them again. Because your friends are exchanging favours with you. Because generosity makes you look strong. Because your friends are your relatives.
Now Andrew is the recalcitrant student.
Jacob takes the letter out.
JACOB: Clinetics Limited. Know them? (Andrew shakes his head.) They're a genetic testing company. A little low-end compared to your people.
ANDREW faintly: It's not an area of the market we have much contact with.
JACOB gets a cutlery knife from the drawer and cuts open the top of the envelope.
ANDREW: Son,
Jacob waits.
A very challenging student.
Long pause.ANDREW: have you ever seen a Hitchcock film?
JACOB: What?
ANDREW: Do you know Alfred Hitchcock, the film director?
JACOB: Yes, I know Alfred Hitchcock, the film director.
ANDREW: Do you know what a MacGuffin is?
JACOB shakes his head.
ANDREW: So in all of his films, there's some object that the characters are chasing. A briefcase, or a necklace, or a coffin. And they are all very interested in that object. The whole plot of the film revolves around it. So Hitchcock called it the MacGuffin.
Saul enters and stands unobserved.
But the point about the MacGuffin is, that there is no point. It can be anything. It itself doesn't actually matter. It's just a hook to hang the plot on.
You... want a lot of things. You want certainty and trust, and you want to understand everything, you have all these questions and you want to put them to rest. The answer is not in that letter. Don't open it.
Trust me.
JACOB: Why should I?
ANDREW: Because I'm your father.

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I've been reading Sarah Kane. I'm not sure I learn much from it, but she makes me feel appropriately inferior: her writing is dazzling.

Day 15 - Uptown

We've been walking early in the morning when it's as cool as it's going to get in the day.  We used to walk at a park but there are too many gunshots in and around the park (not to mention slamming car doors) and now my dog is afraid to go there because of the noise.  He doesn't like the sidewalks around our neighborhood either because the neighbors set off firecrackers every night from early June through mid-July.  So, we've taken to walking uptown, along Main St.

In a couple of hours, when the shops and government offices open, the street will be bumper to bumper with cars and semi trucks.  This photo is of a rare moment when the street is just about empty.  This picture makes the town seem drab and lifeless, but actually, it's almost quaint.  There's not much to see or do uptown, but they do try to make it look nice with trees and flowers and such. 

We're halfway through our 30 Day Challenge.  It's been interesting so far.  I've enjoyed reading the posts of others more than I've enjoyed trying to find a photo to take everyday.  We'll see what the next 15 days bring.

Indoor Mitzi

During today's sweatfest I finished listening to yesterday's podcast about "going posh". The final word on what is posh is "opening a champagne bottle with a sword". I reflected on how difficult this would be given I was taught to "twist the bottle, not the cork" in my bar-tending days.

There ended up being a numerical theme for today's jog (the exercise formerly known as a walk by the sea.) I ran 3.3km in about 30 minutes. It's a case of slow and steady, hare over tortoise. Plus a tipping of the hat to all things "30".

Corra, Bob, Corra

No hay ninguna razón en este planeta por Jay Leno estar en la televisión. Ninguna.

De pasar ...

Estoy corriendo de nuevo. Hace unos meses, me inscribí en una media maratón (en Toronto, en octubre). No estoy seguro si voy a hacer a T.O., pero estoy entrenando todos modos.

Quiero terminarlo en menos de 2:15. Eso parece bastante rápido para mí, pero hasta ahora estoy superando el ritmo meta fijada por el programa. Supongo que el entrenamiento de los últimos meses es realmente está merecido la pena.  Una cosa es segura, ninguno de mis pantalones son ajustados más. Un peligro de convertirse en forma: se necesita ropa nueva.

Mi entrenador cree que estoy más rápido que yo creo que estoy. Creo que es mejor para vencer a los objetivos del programa más fácil de lo que me propuse al fracaso en el más uno. Para mí, al menos, esta estrategia es más motivador.

Oh. Yo presenté mis papeles para la ciudadanía del Reino Unido la semana pasada. Creo que voy a ser uno de los ciudadanos de la Reina pronto. Estoy seguro de HRM está encantado, ¿no?